A couple of minor issues with my first 2 color run

[cowboyskunk]

I will try and go in order of how the problems have occurred.

The Materials:
-110V 1800 W flash dryer
-QCM PLastisol Inks (reduced with curable reducer to consistency of moderate drizzle if picked up with spatula)
-180 Mesh Screen (quarter trick for tension works)
-Red Hybrid Emulsion from Ryonet (one layer each side of screen)
-Printing first a large orange footprint onto a royal blue shirt, and then following it with a white text (a small run for my cousin's college club)

1) I found a couple identically colored old shirts to do some tests
2) First with the orange footprint, it seems I have to do at least 3 passes to get it coated solidly enough, is this normal?
-I am also getting tiny bubbles in the ink after the first couple layers, and it seems like uneven consistency regardless of how even and firm I seem to scrape after the flood.
-Some spots on the footprint look like nice even smooth plastic, and others are grainy like the fabric or speckled with the small bubbles.
-I am flashing for 12-15 seconds between hits on this color, is this too long?
-I saw in your videos some tips to press more firm on the first pass, and lay off a bit on the second to leave more ink. Any other tips or errors you can think of?
3) I'm getting a stick from the shirt to the back of the screen.
-My guess is I'm not letting it cool enough between flashes, but how hot is too hot? Should I wait minutes between hits if that's what it takes to cool? Wouldn't this add ridiculous amounts of time on a long run?
-Any other tips for this?
4) Once I get to the white text all of the previous problems seem to still exist, except for the stick (I'm guessing due to a much smaller surface area and the orange has had time to cool?)
-another new problem though, due to it being the second color over the orange... even after 3 to 4 passes (again seemingly too many?), it seems to be much lighter on the fabric than where it overlaps orange. Even worse, the text over the orange seems to have a very noticeable orange/brown hue to it as if the orange is showing through EVEN AFTER 4 passes. This one I have no idea on.

Sorry for the bombardment! But I do thank you so much for the videos and the friendly advice and help you provide, and will continue to support!

Sam L.
Florida
Small Business Owner

[cowboyskunk]

I actually narrowed down almost all of my problems in the past few hours just watching your vids! I completely had the basic technique wrong, and that fixed most of the issues. The main one I have left from the list below is that the white layered over the orange (flashing between every layer, approx 3 per color), gradually increases it's orange/brown hue between flashes, and noticeably so after curing (approx 20-30 sec.). What would you think could be the issue> Many thanks!

[Catspit Productions]

Okay that’s great that my videos are helping out so much! I’m so glad to hear they could be of such assistance to you.

Now as for your last issue as I understand it this is a 2 color print using white and orange? And you are getting an overprint that turns brown after so much heat?

Actually this could be a matter of artwork now that I think about it. You may need to "knock out" the area you are over printing that is being influenced by the color under it. But if you only have 2 colors you should be printing a white under base with the orange on top of that and then maybe a white highlight printer after that if needed.

[Catspit Productions]

Yes, the more I read what you have here the more I think the artwork is not set up properly and your print order is incorrect. You’ll want to print the white underneath all of the orange and knock out the areas you need to be white in the orange printer. Then you set up a highlight printer that will print white on top of white in the areas you want to be white after the orange.

So in essence a 2 color print is actually 3 screens. White under base, orange, white highlight. Do you follow?

I think this is a matter of artwork set up.

[cowboyskunk]

I believe I understand.
For the 3 screens the first would have the complete positive of everything being printing, and through this will be a white under base (Is one pass ok for the underbase or should it be a solid white?).
The second would be the orange design with negative space where the lettering overlaps the design.
Lastly, I would go over the text again with white?

Sound correct in layman's terms?

Thanks again!

[Catspit Productions]

Yes, you got it! The underbase should be white enough to fill the knit of the tee shirt without being too thick whcich would casuse the finished print to feel heavy and rubbery. So do a more firm stroke pushing the white underbase ink into the knit some. The the white highlight printer will breighten up the white that you want in the finished print result.

It's my pleasure to help out. Let us know how you make out and what worked to solve your issues. Feel free to post questions anytime when you need some help. Good luck